This Is Mi Casa

On Facebook I like a restaurant’s page. The restaurant is owned by a family member and the food is always great. Every day they tempt me with their lunch special and on a few occasions, the lunch special is a chorizo burger.

Now, I love chorizo, I love hamburgers, so to meld the two together is not only genius, but must taste like heaven. Since I work from home and am pretty much tied to the home during the day, I have yet to make it over to the restaurant to try it.

Last Monday I was looking in my recipe box for my roasted chicken recipe. I didn’t find it but instead I found a recipe I had cut out if a magazine called Ole Burger. I couldn’t believe it! I had a recipe for a chorizo burger all this time and had never made it! Guess what we were having on Tuesday night for dinner!!

I was right, they did taste like heaven. The kids loved them — I knew they would since they all love chorizo. I can’t wait to make them on a real BBQ once all our snow leaves.

Here’s how to make them:

Chorizo Burgers
adapted from Food & Drink magazine

375g of uncured chorizo ( approximately 3 sausages)
375 g ground pork
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley

Remove the casings from the chorizos and mix filling with ground pork. Add salt, pepper and parsley. Mix and make your patties. Place them in the fridge for 30 mins then grill them.

I made 6 patties because for the kids I made a few smaller ones but it does make 4 generous servings.

I also made some saffron mayonnaise to put on your hamburger bun. Here’s how:

Saffron Mayonnaise

1 tbsp warm water
1/4 tsp saffron threads
1/2 cup mayonnaise

Place saffron threads in warm water and let sit for 15 mins. Mix with mayonnaise until well blended.

Buen Provecho!

I’m have to admit that I’m pretty lucky with my kids. The eat their vegetables, especially the green ones. Spinach, broccoli, collards, rapini, asparagus (especially asparagus) are not an issue in our home. With kale being the latest health trend due all the benefits it has, I was not shy to try is, nor were the kids. Kale is very high in vitamins K and A, not to mention vitamin C.

I started with something easy, kale chips- who doesn’t like chips? I couldn’t make them fast enough! The kids were eating them as they came out of the oven. Now kale appears on our plates steamed, stir fried, or in dishes like lasagna, soup or casseroles and the kids don’t bat an eye. To quote my oldest,

Ma, it tastes like spinach!

I know that most kids are more picky when it comes to vegetables so if you haven’t tried kale because you’re worried it will just sit on your plate at home, here’s an easy way to introduce it. Kale pesto. It’s easy to make, takes a few ingredients and then you can serve it on your pasta. So easy!

Kale pesto
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
3 cups kale
1 garlic clove
1/2tsp coarse salt
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

If your pine nuts are not toasted, toast them in a dry skillet until lightly browned. Once they are cooled, pulse them in a food processor.
Add the kale, stems removed, and pulse again. Add garlic and salt, cheese. Mix all together and then, with motor running, slowly pour in the oil.

This recipe makes about 1 cup of pesto. I use about 1/2 cup for 1 pound of pasta.

Buen provecho!

Growing up I always heard people taking about granola. I knew it was made with rolled oats, but other than that I had no idea what it was. I grew up in a Spanish household and granola did not make the breakfast items list. It was a mystery food for me all wrapped in intrigue. Store bought granola was the way I started. Those little cups with yogurt, you know what I mean. Probably not the most healthy of granola, but still, I felt healthier just because I was eating it.

Cut to the internet era. Since there is such an abundance of information online, I knew that I would be able to find recipes to make my own. What I didn’t expect was to find millions of different recipes out there; with fruit, without fruit, with nuts, without seeds, plain, healthier…. So many options, but I was not discouraged. I started by making highly rated granola recipes from trusted blogs and websites. Some worked, some didn’t. I even burnt a few batches. Through trial and error I’ve gotten more confident so I’ve been venturing off and mixing recipes. Taking what we enjoyed from one and mixing it with what we enjoy from others.

My granola recipe is adapted from the granola recipe found in the cookbook Quinoa 365. I liked the ingredients they used and I really liked getting the nutritional benefits of quinoa. The only thing is that I found it very sweet. To cut back on the sweetness I changed the maple syrup to a mixture of oil and agave nectar in a ratio of one to one.

I know this is not my final granola recipe. As we find out more about nutritional benefits of different seeds and nuts, I’m sure I’ll be adapting this recipe once again. This recipe can be tailored to your tastes; add more fruit or less, don’t like coconut then add more sunflower seeds, you can’t really go wrong.

Homemade Granola
3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
1/3 cup quinoa, regular or red
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/4 cup shredded coconut
3/4 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 tsp pure vanilla
1 cup dry fruit, ie blueberries, cherries, cranberries, raisins or a combination.

Preheat oven to 225F.
In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl mix the oil, agave nectar and vanilla. Stir to mix and pour over the oats mixture. Mix well to ensure all ingredients are evenly coated.

Spread on a baking sheet and cook in preheated oven for one hour. Once cooked, place baking sheet on a cooling rack to cool and add dry fruit, if using.

Buen provecho!